Elfling
by Noriah
Summary: Encounters with an annoying wizard, a new exciting world, and a new family. What's it like to be adopted by the Mirkwood King?
1. Chapter 1

Elfling

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything that Tolkien owned except for a love of language and pure genius.**

It began with falling and an increasing sense of darkness. I had always tried to imagine what a free fall would be like. There's a sense of weightlessness, you feel as if you'll keep falling and falling. At first I was scared; I'm surprised my heart didn't stop. I was waiting for the impact, expecting it, wanting it- anything to make the terrible suspense stop. But it didn't come, and it didn't come, and after a while I calmed down because I wasn't hitting anything. And all the while everything seemed to become darker and darker as if I was alone in a space completely void of everything. No sound, no light- just me and the darkness. Slowly, my mind became clouded and I drifted away from consciousness.

Everything came back at once and I sat up with a jolt-My heart racing. What I saw did not make sense- my mind screamed and I snapped my eyes shut so that it was only me and the darkness again.

" _Ok, umm….Breathe-yeah, that's what I was forgetting to do. In, out. Ok, now slowly open your eyes? Nope, not quite ready to do that yet. Right, so we use touch…"_ I felt around. _"Soft blankets, I think I'm on a bed….a pillow-a really fluffy pillow."_ I tried it out. _"Hey! This is a nice pillow. So whatever this place is – it's not bad."_ I reasoned.

Not very good reasoning I admit but I did just wake up. I grabbed my arms. _"_ Soft _flannelly sleeves?"_ I opened my eyes. Unfortunately, the room looked exactly the same as it did the last time I had opened them. The light was dim, its only source being a small fire place. The furniture was all made of dark wood. Many of the things were made from whole branches. The whole room seemed to bend and curve like it was a living forest. The blankets were silky and embroidered with flowers.

" _Pretty bed, nice room, oldish/a little bit strange looking. I seem to be wearing some type of nightgown. There is a door! That's a good thing, doors are good….The door is shut. Maybe it's locked? I'm wearing a nightgown so someone changed me and that means there are people-that's good! Or bad? Maybe that's bad. These people have money, because everything in here is very nice and they like the woods because everything in here is made out of sticks."_ Pleased with my deductions, I got out of bed.

" _First things first! Clothes. I'm not walking around in this nightgown. Hmm…."_ My eyes scanned the room and landed on a small wooden chair. " _Aha! on the chair. And they're folded and washed. This puts another tally in front of 'nice'. If they weren't nice they wouldn't have washed and folded my clothes."_

I breathed a sigh of relief and got dressed. It's reassuring to be among nice people. Then I noticed my denim backpack next to the chair.

" _That is my backpack….I defiantly didn't bring my backpack, so someone else must have. My backpack was at my house. Someone went to my house! Wait, I was at my house. They probably got me and the bag at the same time. So, somebody arranged for me to come, and according to the bag they expect me to stay for a little bit."_ I looked through my bag. _"I didn't pack any of this stuff, so someone went through all my stuff and packed me a bag. Hmm…"_

I put on the deodorant I had found in the bag and snapped a hair tie around my wrist. Then, I made the bed. _"Can I use anything else in here?"_ I looked around. _"Nope."_

" _What next? Well, you'd better not adventure on an empty stomach. Breakfast. Now, where do you find food? In a kitchen. And how do you find a kitchen? That is a trickier question….Well, it's not in here, so we can check this room off the list."_ I observed brilliantly. _"If it's not in here it must be out there."_

I opened the door and was surprised to see a guy with weapons standing outside.

" _Woah, why is he standing there? He looks like a guard. The question is, why is there a guard standing outside my door? Maybe I am dangerous? Yes, defiantly dangerous. Armed and dangerous. His clothes are a little odd, but they match that room I was in."_

My gaze switched from the guard to my surroundings. The hallway was dark and long with the same branches and curving lines as my bedroom had. It also felt alive which was slightly creepy. It was as if the walls were watching and did not approve.

" _This hallway is too big to be a hallway; more like a corridor. Corridor? Than this isn't a house. Or it's a big house? A big house with guards. A castle! Or something._

 _The guy is looking at me. Maybe I should say something. Now, should I be mean and scary to make sure they don't mess with me, or nice? Are they mean? I don't know yet, so why be mean if they might be nice. If you're mean, they'll be mean back, it will infect the world and the earth will be overrun with mean people. Bad idea, be nice._

"Hi, could you please give me directions to the kitchen?" I said with a smile. He looked at me rather amusedly.

"The kitchens are down the hall. Go straight, turn left at the second hallway, then turn right, and it should be on your left."

" _Woah"_

"Thank you! My name's Marilla by the way," I said as politely as I could. "Mine is Grendling, my lady," he answered with a bow. "Just call me Marilla," I said."Yes, Marilla" he replied with a nod looking more amused than ever.I waved good bye and set off.


	2. Quest for the Kitchens!

The Quest for the Kitchens!

I finally made it after a hard and diligent search, accompanied by much wandering. I poked my head around the door frame and peeked into the kitchen. I don't normally indulge in my everlasting desire to spy on people, but I felt that the extreme circumstances merited an exception. Besides, meeting new people can be trying, and it could be said that I was really assessing the situation and summoning my courage. It was the biggest kitchen I had ever seen, but that's not saying much as I don't really make a habit of examining kitchens. A continuous counter ran along the wall overhung by cabinets, and interjected with stoves and sinks. The wide open room was dotted with tables and islands at which several people were diligently working. Their long silky hair hung freely and I wondered if they were breaking some sort of health regulation. In all they looked very graceful even though they were doing tiresome servile work like washing pots and pans.

" _Big industrial sized kitchen maybe it's a hotel?"_ I thought to myself _._

Taking a deep breath I prepared to initiate contact. "Hi," I said as I timidly stepped into the door way. The people in the kitchen looked up in surprise. One of them, I think he's in charge, walked over. Surprisingly he bowed. His face seemed kind and his eyes pooled with untold wisdom. His dark brown hair slid over his shoulders and his plum tunic brought out the brown in his eyes. "How may I help you little one?" he said tenderly, looking at me as if I was extremely precious and small.

" _Little one?"_ I thought to myself. _"Doesn't he realize I'm fifteen?"_

Aloud I answered, "I was looking for some breakfast." He smiled pleasantly in a manner that put me completely at ease. "This way," he said as he led me over to some stools at the side of an Island. "What would you like?" the man asked me. "What do you have?" I questioned. For some reason the others chuckled quietly. "Anything you'd like" the man answered with an even bigger smile. "So, what shall it be?" I got the feeling that he liked feeding people.

" _I need to remember this guy in the future, he could prove to be an able ally,"_ I told myself.

"Two pieced of buttered toast and a cup of coffee," I told him. He got right on it. "Anyway I can help?" I asked looking after him as he crossed the kitchen and began to slice some bread. "No," one of the other people said as they whisked by the island. "We have it handled."

"My name's Marilla what are your names?" I asked, trying to appear polite. They introduced themselves as Fingwin, Lathaldir, Gaildwinion, and Latalie. During the whole time they never stopped moving, bustling first to one thing then to another. They danced around each other and appeared to be one unit; moving constantly yet never bumping into each other or getting in the way. Soon, Lathaldir handed me my food. I ate in silence as I observed them. They almost didn't seem human- like twirling angels that never even touched the floor. Their footsteps were light and soundless. And I watched to see if they really stepped on the ground. Their silence seemed like music, their work a flawless dance.

"Where should I put my dishes?" I asked when I was through. "In the sink would be fine," said Gaildwinion calling back over his shoulder with an amused look on his face. I placed my dishes in the large sink and went back to sit on my stool.

I needed to decide what to do from here. I had some questions and wanted answers. Also, it would be rude to not meet the host. So, I decided I would have to find whoever was in charge.

"Who is in charge of everything around here?" I asked. "In charge of the kitchens?" Gaildwinion questioned. "No, I mean in charge of everything." I clarified. "That would be King Thranduil," he answered with a respectful nod of his head.

" _Thranduil must be a good king if Gaildwinion likes him so very much, and a king is a good place to start when looking for answers."_

"Can you tell me where he is?" I asked. "He is most probably in his throne room," Fingwin told me knowledgeably. "Can you direct me in the right direction?" I asked. _"That came out weird."_ They chuckled. "Go down the hall to the left. All the way at the end there is a flight of stairs. Go up and take a right, then take the first hallway on your left. When you get to a bridge with two guards in front of it you're there," Fingwin instructed.

" _This guy has got to be trying to confuse me. What is it with these people and directions! Has anyone here heard of an open floor plan?"_

"It would not be wise to enter without first making an appointment," said Latalie. "Thanks," I said, waving as I left the room.

" _She says I need an appointment, should I? Nah, that would take too long. Patience is for wimps. Besides, he's the one who probably brought me here."_

So I set off for the throne room. It was not really a room, more like a bridge to nowhere. Standing at the edge of the massive bridge, I took back my previous words about an open floor plan. They definitely got the 'open' part down. There were countless curving bridges twisting over each other. They went down far below me and went on further than I could see.

I climbed down the steps, tripped on something, and fell on my face. _"Hey, this carpet's kind of nice!"_

The king was standing at the other end of the now dubbed 'bridge to nowhere', going over some scroll with another shorter blonde guy. The king glanced up at the sound (even ninjas make noise sometimes) and seeing me flat on my face raised an eyebrow. The other guy followed the king's gaze and gave me an interesting look that I couldn't read. A look, almost, of wonder and awe. I sat up crossed my legs in my lap and waved.

"Hi," I said. "Are you the king?" He gave a slight nod. "Oh," I stood up and started walking towards him, keeping my eyes carefully glued to the bridge in order to avoid any life ending incidences such as falling into a bottomless void. "My name is Margaret. I was told your name is Thranduil is that correct?" Another slight nod. "Are you very busy right now? If so I can come back later, but I really need to speak with you." I waved to one of the guards, stepped up the last few steps and stood in front of the king. He was slightly taller than he had seemed from the other end of the bridge and the 'shorter blonde guy' was at least two heads taller than me. "Yes, I do believe I can spare a few moments. Allow me to introduce my son, Legolas." He said, gesturing towards the now not so short 'shorter blonde guy'. _"Legolas…that means Greenleaf. I wonder what the name Thranduil means. Judging from his crown I'd say 'twig'_."

Legolas gave a slight bow. I smiled at him and he looked down at me with the most beautiful smile, as if I was the most precious thing in the world. Thranduil went and with a dramatic flourish, sat on his throne. "What can I do for you, elfling?" He asked.

" _Elfling? Is that just a term of endearment?"_

How was I going to explain this? I took a deep breath. "I woke up in a bed that's not my bed, in a place that's not my house. Somebody brought me here on purpose because they packed my bag. Now you either know this somebody or you are this somebody, which is it?" I said it all in one go (the reason for the deep breath), and held his strong gaze unfalteringly. Legolas looked slightly startled, his eyes widening the slightest bit. The king, like everyone else in this blasted kingdom, looked amused. "What makes you think I know anything?" The king asked, almost as if he was testing me. "When I fell, I was wearing these clothes and I didn't have my bag. I know I didn't just land in that room because I was tucked into the bed and wearing a nightgown when I woke up. Fingwin said this whole place is run by you. That means the room I was in belongs to you. You have a lot of guards around this place including the one standing conspicuously right outside my bedroom door. So I doubt someone would be able to sneak with an unconscious me into a room without your knowledge. Unless that is what happened, in which case all your guards should be shot."

"An impressive deduction. Mithrandir told me you were smart." He smiled down at me.

" _Gandalf!"_ I thought to myself. (I had previously made an extensive study of famous wizards in myth and legend.)

My legs were getting tired so I sat cross-legged on the floor. "Is Mithrandir here now?" I asked. "Indeed, he is," a gruff old voice answered from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw an old man dressed all in grey.

" _Like a rain cloud,"_ I thought to myself.

"Mithrandir, why am I here?" I asked. "Because you needed to be," he answered. "Stop talking like a wizard." I said irritably. His eyes twinkled, "But I am a wizard." "Where is your hat then?" I questioned. "You don't need a hat to be a wizard." He replied in a defensive manner. I of course knew this perfectly well, but it is not often one gets the chance to argue with wizards. "Every wizard I have ever seen in pictures has had a very nice hat—aside from that one white guy, but that's because he's annoying." I retorted. "Verily, he is a wizard," Legolas leaned over my shoulder and looked at me tenderly. "When he came in yesterday he was wearing a hat." Gandalf muttered something about hats under his breath. Legolas smirked but I couldn't make out what he said.

In his hand the wizard carried a wonderful twisted staff. I could practically feel the magic and power rolling off it. Its polished surface, shining in the flickering light, was captivating and I had a strong urge to do more than just look at it. Then I saw at its top, a white crystal, wreathed in light. "Is the staff what's important or is it the rock?" I asked as Mithrandir started walking towards us. "It's not a rock it's a crystal" Gandalf answered without answering.

" _Save me from wizards and their shifty answers!"_

"And?" I prodded. He let loose a very put upon sigh. "They need each other," he explained. "So if you don't have both, it doesn't work?" I asked. "Be quiet young elfling or would you like me to use my magic to silence you?" he raised an intimidating eyebrow. I huffed and was about to retort when Legolas scooped me up into his strong arms and stood holding me. "Hush," was all he said. I was slightly shocked to say the least, but no one else seemed to be paying any attention. I struggled, trying to get down and failed miserably. After a moment Legolas slowly turned his head to look at me "What's all this wiggling for little one?"

" _Wiggling! I was using my impressive combat skills to knock my opponent off balance and thus escape into the darkness!"_

I renewed my efforts. Thranduil and Gandalf paused in their conversation for a moment as Thranduil glanced over at me. "Give her to me," he said as he lifted his arms in my direction and turned his attention back to Gandalf. Legolas took a few quick steps up to the throne and deftly passed me over to his father. I squeaked as the king lifted me up and settled me on his lap. He placed his arm securely around me. "Be still, little one" was all he said and the conversation went on as normal. Slightly alarming I know, but I pride myself on my extreme adaptability and nerves of steel. So, like a cobra waiting to strike, I settled back against the king's impressively comfy chest and waited.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing!**

I nestled back and listened. The King and Wizard talked on and on, but I wasn't hearing the words. I have this thing I like to do where I distance myself from the meaning of the words and just listen to the sound. It really is beautiful and comforting because the intonation and patterns remain the same no matter what language you are listening to. The only problem is that sometimes you become so distanced that you don't realize when someone says something you should recognize – like your name. As you can imagine I was quite surprised when the wizard reached up and shook me.

"Hmm..." I snapped myself back into what I had named 'the conversation zone' and looked at Gandalf questioningly. "Ah, you have come back to us. For a moment it seemed as though you could not hear me." The wizard said; his eyebrows knit together in concern. "As I was saying, I believe you came here wanting answers." "Yes," I said. I sat up expectantly.

"Why don't you ask me your questions and I will answer them as well as I am able." He suggested. It sounded like a good plan so I nodded and searched my mind for a question.

" _Why is it that whenever you can't ask anything your mind is exploding with questions, but then as soon as you want to find one, they're gone!"_

"Why am I here?" I asked.

" _Nice easy question, good thing to start with," I_ thought.

"I already told you, you are here because you needed to be." Gandalf replied.

" _Ok, that's not the type of answer I had in mind."_

"But why?" I insisted. "You don't need to know" he dared to reply. "I thought you said you were going to answer my questions." I said testily. "Yes, and that is my answer," Replied Gandalf.

" _Ok, take a different approach. Use your amazing ability to manipulate words to trick him in to telling you what you want to know."_

"Exactly where am I?" I inquired. "You are in the Elven King's palace, in Mirkwood, in Middle Earth," He answered slowly and with caution.

"… _..What?"_

I tried a different route. "How did you find me? I don't know you….. at least I don't think I do." "I was cleaning up someone else's mess." He answered.

" _Hmm….'cleaning up a mess' probably means 'fixing a problem' - A problem that most probably involved me. He said I 'needed' to be here maybe what he really meant is that I needed not to be 'there'."_

"Whose mess was it?" I asked. He searched for words than said, "An old colleague of mine, had attempted an experiment," his voice darkened. "And it went wrong."

"Obviously you're not too happy about it. It must have been some sort of evil idea." I said. "Not evil," he corrected. "Merely….misguided, I suppose you could say."

"So, this misguided friend of yours, he attempts an experiment that somehow affects me. I suppose I was picked randomly?" I questioned. "In a way," the wizard answered. "He did not know you, if that's what you mean. He merely chose you as the best out of all the available options." "Chose me? This experiment was directly connected with me then? I didn't just happen to get in the way?" I tried to work a satisfactory answer out of him. "Yes, it could be said that the experiment revolved entirely around you." Gandalf answered. "And then you step in yeah?" I prompted. "I told him to stop but he didn't listen and the experiment went out of control. I am sorry, I tried to save you and it seems I have succeeded. But what had already been put into motion could not be undone," He concluded regretfully.

"So you brought me here." I said after a moment of silence. "Yes." "And Thranduil knew all about it?" I inquired. "He understood that I needed his assistance and that a child's life was in danger," the wizard said carefully.

" _Really? I have a feeling he knew a lot more than that. Oh, well. Doesn't really matter I suppose, after all, I'm already here and there's no changing the past."_

"Well, you did your job, I'm safe now. How do we go about getting me back?" I said.

"Marilla," the man's gruff old voice paused. "You cannot leave… It is impossible for you to go back." "Then why did you bring me here in the first place!" I yelled angrily. Gandalf became dark, "Because this is where you needed to be!" he insisted angrily. My voice dropped and I said slowly in disbelief "I needed to be?... What about my family? My mom? Did you at least tell her!" tears streamed down my face. I felt Thranduil stiffen behind me as I spoke those words. The wizard tried to answer but I talked on top of him. "Don't you know what she'll think? She'll think I left her. She'll search for me wondering why I won't come back. She's going to think I just didn't care! That I actually chose to leave her! Do you know what this will DO to my dad? It will destroy him! The least you could have done is tell them that I didn't abandon them willingly. I never got to say good bye!" The truth of what I had just said hit me suddenly and I crumpled in on myself. The king's hands gently turned me so that my face was against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, rubbing my back with his slender hand, smoothing my hair. He whispered words of comfort in a language few know. But I couldn't hold on, I couldn't reach out, my heart had become so cold and heavy that I didn't think I could hold it any more. I laid against him and cried.

But he never stopped and he never let go. He seemed to surround me, his cloak encircled me, his arms enfolded me. I listened to the steady beat of his heart….. and held on.

After a long while, it could have been hours or years, I took a shaky breath and raised my eyes to my kind protector's face. Lines of water ran down his face, his eyes were filled with tears. All I could do was stare at him, beautiful and terrible as he was. Our eyes met and his held such sympathy and sorrow. He gazed upon my face, then after a moment, averting his gaze, he said in a strangled voice, "I understand. This emptiness you feel I also have felt." Then his voice went silent as though it couldn't bear to say any more.

I sat up a bit in that silken lap and saw Gandalf standing there as he had been before. I felt a flame of hot anger rise in my chest, burning with fury. It scared me, these powerful emotions, so I ran before I could do anything I might regret. Sliding off the kings lap (a miraculous feat in itself I might add, seeing how he had his arms about me), I fell all the way to the floor and took off running. The guards looked slightly startled as I passed them by and I could only hope they wouldn't try to follow. I ran through the hallways and over bridges, and down stairs. I didn't know where I was running to, but I ran as though my life depended on it. However there came a time when I could run no more. Terrified at the thought of someone finding me I slid into the dark space under a case of stairs. I sat there in silence for a while, not thinking of anything in particular, just trying to cool my anger down. I had pulled up my knees against my chest and buried my head in my arms. I wanted to hide forever. I didn't want to have to think. I sat there for a really long time, probably an hour or more, hoping I could just avoid life. Then I could hear the sound of worried voices coming down the hallway and I could only assume there were people to go with them. I tensed, suddenly my breathing sounded really loud.

" _They are going to hear me. What am I going to do?... Stop breathing - then they won't hear anything!"_

But then my heart started beating really hard.

" _What now? I can't just stop my heart!"_

I could hear the voices getting closer, I couldn't understand what they were saying, but they sounded agitated. They continued past me down the hallway and I breathed a sigh of relief. Again, I sat alone in the dusty darkness under the stairs. I began to think of how it had started, about the fall. I imagined how it must have looked when I just vanished from my house.

" _I bet I dropped the book I was reading, I hope the page doesn't get crinkled."_ I thought to myself.

I thought about my family, how mom would have sent my brother to tell me it was time for supper and he wouldn't be able to find me. Lost in my thoughts I sat there on the hard floor for ages. Then, far off, I heard a door close. I heard the sound of rustling fabric as someone slid under the stairs and felt a presence next to mine. It sat right up against me, our sides touching. At first I was scared that it would try to talk to me, but it didn't, it just sat there next to me. I could feel the heat of their body radiating into mine and its presence was oddly comforting. After 15 minutes or so I peeked up and saw Legolas siting there with his knees drawn up just like mine. His soft hair spilled down over his shoulders, and he tilted his head down to look at me.

"Hiding?" he asked. I nodded and hid my face in my arms again. Unfortunately questions kept sneaking their way into my mind. Finally I turned my head towards him. "What are you doing under here?" I asked my voice still raspy with tears. "I came to find you; you've been gone for over two hours. We began to worry. The servants were searching, but though they tried their hardest they could not find you. We were afraid you had fallen from a bridge and hurt yourself." The prince said in his clear voice.

" _Fallen from a bridge? Come on, I'm a ninja!"_

"Not a bad idea actually," I said aloud. Legolas seemed to ponder this for a moment. Finally, with a shake of his head he said, "I'm sorry; I do not understand your meaning." "Falling off a bridge," I clarified. "It's not a bad idea." I could see his eyes widen in the dark, he looked surprised and horrified. But he didn't answer. Instead he changed the subject. "Come, you have been hiding away over-long," he said. He crawled out of the dark space drawing me out with him. He started walking down the hall, clearly expecting me to follow.


	4. Chapter 4

Walk Like a Ninja

I hesitated. My eyes flashed back to the dark comfort of the stairs.

" _Stop this, why hide? Sometimes hiding is a good idea but right now it will not help; besides Legolas already knows my hiding spot so I really wouldn't be hiding anyway. I need a plan…"_

Nothing.

"… _um, ok maybe the plan can wait."_ I told myself.

I ran after Legolas who hadn't stopped walking and was quite a ways down the hall. I didn't feel like talking, and he didn't look like he wanted to converse either, so I remained silent….or as silent as I could be. My foot falls sounded annoyingly loud compared to Legolas's silent ones. I tried to see what he was doing different, my eyes trained on his feet. But it was kind of hard, because he walked so fast that simply keeping in pace with him was difficult much less watching his feet. "Stop," I commanded. Legolas gracefully came to a halt and raised an inquiring eyebrow. I stepped to the side to gain a good view. "Okay, now walk forward slowly," I told him. He complied.

With my analyzing mind I watched him, taking note of his every movement…..…..and didn't notice anything different. He was still walking forward so I readjusted my position and watched him again. Finally, after an incredibly long time - probably three minutes - I noticed that he walked toe-heel instead of heel-toe. I came up beside him and tried to mimic his movements. He seemed quite amused by my actions and quirked a small smile. After about fifteen minutes of walking along at snail speed, I told him to go a little faster. And that is how we arrived at a dining hall. I had been so concentrated on my feet that I did not notice we had even arrived.

"You will want to keep your head up for now, lest you accidentally walk in to someone." Legolas said.

I looked up and gasped, quite startled. _"Not a hallway,"_ was the incredibly useful thought that came to my mind. Legolas seemed to enjoy my shock, for he laughed. "Could you not tell that we were come to the dining hall?" he asked. "Remarkably enough, all the floors around here look the same." I muttered.

He walked down some large steps into the broad high roofed room filled with long wooden tables lined with benches. Large chandeliers decorated with antlers were lined up across the ceiling. The shape of them casting shadows that looked like twisting vines. Many people were there seated at the tables eating. The room was filled with the sound of many voices and I noticed with surprise that I did not recognize the language. From my vantage point on the stairs, I followed his movements with my eyes, watching him walk casually down between the rows of tables. He looked relaxed enough, but he still had the stiff back of a soldier. Many people greeted him as he walked by, some clasping his shoulder in a friendly way others nodding their head in respect.

" _I suppose I have to join him,"_ I sighed to myself as I began to climb down the steps. As I made my way through the rows of tables I felt eyes on me. Throwing a hurried glance around I noticed not a few people blatantly staring at me. _"They're watching me, they're watching me they're watching me! What do I do!"_ I panicked. _"No, stop Breathe!_ " I commanded myself. _"You're probably drawing even more attention by looking so uncomfortable."_ I took another quick glace around and freeked. _"They're still staring at me! Now what? Umm, run!"_ I thought. I randomly broke into a sprint and in no time at all had caught up to Legolas who was standing in conversation with a tall man clothed in dark green and brown.

" _Hey, he's dressed just like that guard that was standing outside my room!... and like the ones I passed in the hallways….. and the ones right in front of the entrance to 'The Bridge to Nowhere'…. Come to think of it the ones in front of Thranduil's throne were wearing something similar under their armor. Okay, so he's a guard. And he is rather buddy, buddy with Legolas. Come to think of it, Legolas stands like the guards. So Legolas is a guard! Probably…..ish, maybe. Need to work on that….."_

Filing these thought away I watched as Legolas took a seat at one of the empty spaces at the table. The guard he had been talking to sat across from him. It was then that I realized they were talking in English, not the other language everyone else seemed to be speaking in. _"Probably for me,"_ I thought. Legolas glanced at me and gestured for me to sit in the space directly next to him. I did, and was met with a very unwelcome surprise, _"Ohh, my feet don't reach!"_ I mentally wailed. _"Whoever built these benches is going to face my wrath. Couldn't they have at least ONE bench for people who don't have enormously long legs? I mean come on its common courtesy! Everyone here can't be that tall."_ I paused my rant and peered under the other tables at peoples legs. Surprisingly, they all touched the floor with leg to spare. With a huff I sat back in my seat _"Maybe this is the tall shift and then they change the benches for the other people."_ I thought, unwilling to believe that everyone was this tall _._

Soon, a person came with plates of food for Legolas and me. The food was uninteresting, at least for me. After the stresses of the morning I did not feel like eating. So I simply nibbled at a few carrots and resolved to wait patiently till Legolas was done. Of course my resolve failed in a matter of moments and I entered a highly dangerous realm of boredom. _"Argh, nothing is happening!"_ I screamed inside my head. _"Something to do, something to do,…count the tables. One, two, three….twenty seven, twenty eight…forty-four, forty-five. Ok, now what? Count them in Irish! A haon, a do, a tri….."_ that attempt soon died, as I didn't know any numbers past ten in Irish. I resorted to dancing my fingers on the table – I was half way through a very impressive fox trot when a voice interrupted. "Are you not hungry?" Legolas questioned glancing sideways at me. "No, do you want it?" I asked pushing my plate towards him. "Only a couple of carrots eaten? Where is you appetite little one?" The guard asked conjovialy. "I think I left it under the stairs." I answered with a wry smile.

"Do try to eat a little more," said Legolas softly. I replied by nudging the plate still further in his direction. "I get your message even if Legolas does not." The guard said. "What news from the forest, have the spiders been routed?" he asked, changing the subject as he speared a piece of meat from my plate with his fork and began eating it. "I have not heard," said Legolas with a wry smile as he watched the man eat my food.

I smiled. _"I like this guy! Maybe I should have been listening for his name. I suppose Legolas has said it several times by now…."_

Legolas rose and stepped away from the bench. "Until I see you again, Daeron." He said with a nod. _"Aha! His name is Daeron."_ I applauded myself for my amazing sleuth skills as I made to follow Legolas. Daeron raised his hand in parting.

" _He has some really nice braids in his hair,"_ I noticed.

Then I remembered Legolas, I saw him walking away and hurried to catch up with him. As we made our way out of the dining hall I began to consider what I should do next.

" _I need more information, but I really don't want to talk with the wizard right now. Still, there are so many unanswered questions. Who was this 'colleague' of his that is responsible for bringing me here? What sort of experiment was he preforming? Why? Has it been done before? Urgh, and I bet he won't tell me even if I ask him nicely. I'll have to figure all this out for myself._

 _So…the library. Yeah, the library. If they have one…."_ I couldn't bear the thought. _"They'd better have one."_ I thought to myself. Just the thought of a library filled with dusty old books and wooden shelves made me feel better. _"Next stop Paradise."_


End file.
